Williams hits milestone, St. Joe’s advances in Jamboree

Posted Feb 16, 2020

Nazir Williams (1) of St. Joseph races up court ahead of Zach Martini (54) and Mackenzie Mgbako (24) of Gill St. Bernard's during the New Year's Jump-off boys basketball game between Gill St. Bernard's and St. Joseph (Mont) at Bergen Catholic High School in Oradell, NJ on 1-1-20. Scott Faytok | For NJ Advance Media

St. Joseph (Mont.) senior guard Nazir Williams entered Sunday’s Bergen County Jamboree quarterfinal game against Ridgewood two points away from the 1,000-point plateau.

After being held scoreless in the first quarter, Williams hit the milestone just under a minute into the second quarter.

There wasn’t much time to celebrate. St. Joe’s was trailing Ridgewood by six points. It was time for Williams and his squad to fight back.

Williams went on to score a team-high 17 points and provided some crucial assists as second-seeded St. Joe’s, No. 19 in the NJ.com Top 20, fought back to defeat seventh-seeded Ridgewood 59-49 at Fairleigh Dickinson’s Rothman Center

“I just used that as motivation to make sure we didn’t lose this game,” Williams said. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about it because I only needed two points, but once I got it and settled in, everything started to flow. Once I got it, I realized I could just play. There was no celebration. It was time to play.”

And play Williams did.

His basket sparked a 10-5 run that St. Joe’s used to close out the half and cut its deficit to 26-25. It evened the score at 29-29 three minutes into the third on a score from Daniel Lans and took the lead at 34-31 on a three from Williams with 4:15 left in the quarter. The lead was short-lived and the two traded it twice in the final four minutes before a Williams basket at the buzzer put St. Joe’s ahead 40-38 - a lead it never let slip away.

St. Joe’s carried the momentum to the fourth and started with a bang after Williams found Lans for an alley-oop to put the Knights ahead 42-38.

“Once we ran that play, we knew that we were turning the tide,” Williams said. “We went from regular to extraordinary.”

Ridgewood hung around and kept it a one-possession game until Williams knocked in a three to put St. Joe’s ahead 47-41 with 6:09 left. Ridgewood never came closer than four points of the lead as St. Joe’s closed out the game on a 21-11 run.